Condo Board Game Is Giving Area Additional Publicity

September 8, 1986|By SAL VITTOLINO, Assistant Business Editor

Agroup of businesses have ``gone condo`` in a big way, offering discounts and prizes to players of a new board game. The biggest prize of all: a chance to win a real-life $300,000 condominium at the Jockey Club III in Miami.

Condomoneyum, which debuted in March in New York City and was created by Eric S. Medney, president of ESM Marketing Group Inc., a 5-year-old Garden City, N.Y., marketing and sales promotion firm, gives players a chance to build a six-room $300,000 luxury condominium.

But participants in the $29.95 game also can write essays of 100 words or less defining the word ``Condomoneyum`` and be eligible for a drawing that will determine finalists for the grand-prize Jockey Club condo.

Along the way, 31 businesses -- including The New Fontainebleau Hilton Resort in Miami Beach -- have paid out $25,000 each to have their names on board slots. And game participants receive a coupon book entitling them to more than $2,000 of discounts at participating businesses.

Several sponsors also have put together a separate lottery that will award a Subaru XT at a Nov. 7 drawing.

The luxury condo is to be awarded in March in New York City to the winner of a grand playoff Condomoneyum game there. Six finalists will win an all-expenses-paid weekend trip and be given $200 in cash to play the game to determine the victor.

The game has been picking up recent exposure as the all-important Christmas shopping season approaches. Advertising Age and The Wall Street Journal in recent articles added to publicity already generated by the New York press.

``Sales have been quite good so far, but you have to remember that in the game market, a lot of sales are done during the Christmas season,`` said Jeanne Phillips, New York spokesperson for Condomoneyum. ``A lot of retailers have ordered them and not even put them on the shelves yet,`` she said, adding that Medney`s privately held company is reluctant to provide sales figures.

The game is currently available at Bloomingdale`s in The Falls shopping center in Dade County and is scheduled to be sold at the Jacobson`s store in Palm Beach Gardens.

The game is still being rolled out in department and game stores nationally, but, Phillips added, ``You won`t find them in places like Toys R Us.``

Medney picked Miami as the site of the grand prize because he had vacationed there before and was impressed by the Jockey Club`s ``very luxurious condo community`` and the chance to ``afford the winner to lead a luxurious life,`` Phillips said.

Condomoneyum players begin with a $100,000 bankroll and move strategically from square to square to earn enough money to afford $50,000 for each room of the six-room condomiumium. Players challenge opponents for corporate advertising accounts and invest in the stock market to increase their bankrolls. The first person to purchase six rooms wins.

``One of the most distinguishing features of Condomoneyum is that it blends the fantasy of playing for a $300,000 condominium with the reality of owning one,`` Medney said in a release.

Martin Margulies, developer of Phase III at the Jockey Club, said last week that Medney contacted him about offering the condominium as a grand prize. Medney paid ``a family price`` for the unit, Margulies said, declining to reveal the exact figure. The 3-year-old, 152-unit Phase III has been about 60 percent sold, said Margulies, who also has developed The Bakery Center in Miami.

The combined total of the discounts offered by the coupon book is about 50 times the game`s $29.95 suggested retail price. ``Companies want to build brand awareness and sell product and consumers are looking for value- added product. Condomoneyum was created to satisfy both of those needs,`` Medney said.

Financially strapped Eastern Airlines, although listed as a sponsor of the board game, did not pay the $25,000 fee for its slot, said William Dowse, Eastern vice president of advertising. Instead, the company`s name was put on the board in exchange for providing free transportation to contestants. ``It`s a little something that helps to raise our identity,`` Dowse said. Eastern is not offering game players any discounts.

Aside from advertising on the board, the Fontainebleau Hilton is offering players the chance to stay five days and get two days free, listed as a $250 value.

Lisa Young, director of public relations for the resort, said being a sponsor ``has been great exposure. After all, how often can you get on a board game?``

The old advertising jingle used to say that the burgers are bigger at Burger King.

But Chick-fil-A Inc. of Atlanta is staking claim to the largest chicken nuggets -- a half-ounce each vs. their former size of .35 ounce each.

The larger nuggets are available in packs of 8 and 12 pieces, with the former selling for $1.89 and the latter $2.59, depending on location.

``We see our offering of a larger nugget as a move that will keep us in the forefront of the increasingly competitive fast-food chicken segment,`` said Steve Robinson, vice president of marketing for the 330-plus outlet chain.

And that competitive chicken segment promises to get even more so in the coming weeks. McDonald`s is reportedly test-marketing a new chicken sandwich, the Chicken L.T., served in packaging similiar to its McD.L.T., reports ADWEEK magazine.

Keeping up with its fast-food competitors, Burger King has rolled out French Toast Sticks as part of its AM Express breakfast network, after a six-month test marketing.